Album Review: Suede – Antidepressants

Despite being put in among the Brit-pop heavyweights of the 1990s, Suede deserve to be in a lane of their own. Darker, broodier, menacing at times, the group emerged with their self-titled debut and hit Animal Nitrate. Along with the other 90s big-hitters however, they went on indefinite hiatus in the early 2000s, returning in 2013 with the divisive Bloodsports. Since then, they have been consistently releasing new music and touring, and have now returned with tenth album Antidepressants. 

Opener Disintegrate starts with an ominous sample of an automated voice saying ‘connected, disconnected’ and a building synth before guitars and drums take over. Brett Anderson’s voice sounds as immediate as ever, singing about fear and inevitability. The riffs across the entire album call back to 80s new wave, plucky and catchy, none more so than on Dancing With The Europeans. It’s an optimistic sounding tune both sonically and lyrically. The title track, however, brings back the darkness. Antidepressants talks of being confined in the house you worked to buy, happy on medication but trapped. It’s an interesting take, and one that may rattle some listeners, but it comes across as a take on a personal experience. The Sound And The Summer and Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star both grapple with existence, the latter especially expanding the perspective, sonically opening out reminiscent of some of the instrumentation on Radiohead’s OK Computer.

Broken Music For Broken People is punchy and anthemic, while Criminal Ways introduces a swing and plays out with the grit of a protest song. Trance State is definitely a late-album highlight, Anderson singing about being so completely entranced by someone that he doesn’t know what to do. June Rain is slow building but high impact, telling the story of a lost man trying to end his life to see if the person who has noticed him truly cares for him. It’s poignant and beautifully arranged, leading into closer Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment elegantly. It’s another slow-building, atmospheric song, ending the album with a similarly dark and ambient noise floor.

Antidepressants is an ironic title for an album that does little to hide the sorrow and melancholy, but it’s a sound that Suede do best. It’s a tight collection of songs, arranged with a mastery of four-decades work, and it shows distinctly why the group are in a lane of their own amongst their 90s contemporaries. 

Ryan Bulbeck

Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.